A Media Management System (“MMS”) is a distributed, multi-platform system for managing removable media either in the form of computer media (e.g., magnetic tape, optical disk, and CD-ROM) or in the form of non-computer media (e.g., audiotape, video tape, file, audio CDs and videodiscs). IEEE standards for the MMS define a software component model for working with the removable media as well as a number of protocols that define interfaces between the various software components of the MMS. These standards enable vendors to construct applications that use removable media as well as components of a MMS that interoperate with other MMS components.
MMSs are more and more becoming the central interface for accessing removable media in a storage networking environment. As such, a MMS has to be highly available in order to provide access to the removable media whenever it is needed. This can be achieved with various known techniques (e.g., load balancing and error recovery). A challenge therefore for the removable media storage industry is to implement a highly available removable media storage network environment employing a MMS in accordance with the IEEE standards.